Compact carpet sweeper having fan with flexible drive shaft



April 28, 1959 w. A; SHERBONDY 2,883,695

COMPACT CARPET SWEEPER HAVING FAN WITH FLEXIBLE DRIVE sxmy Filed July 20. 1956 2 -Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR. WILLIAM A. SHERBQNDY- A TTOENEMS.

April 28, 1959 w. A SHERBONDY 3 COMPACT CARPET SWEEPER HAVING FAN WITH FLEXIBLE DRIVE SHAFT Filed July 20. 1956 2 1189? 2 I INVENTOR. WILLIAM A. SHfRBO/VDY I r i imlac A T ORNEYS.

United States Patent COMPACT CARPET SWEEPER HAVING FAN WITH FLEXIBLE DRIVE SHAFT William A. Sherbondy, Pepper Pike, Ohio Application July 20, 1956, Serial No. 599,168

1 Claim. (Cl. 15-342) The present invention relates generally as indicated, to a carpet sweeper, and more particularly to a hand carpet sweeper of the rotary brush type which is equipped with a fan operative to impel dust-laden air from the brush casing into a dust-collecting bag, or the like.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide a simple and efiicient form of hand carpet sweeper, the casing thereof being of minimum height even though the fan is superjacent the rotary brush. 7

It is another object of this invention to provide, in a hand carpet sweeper, a unique drive mechanism for the fan, power fordriving the latter being derived from an end portion of the rotary brush whereby the jbristled body of the brush is uninterrupted from one end to the other.

' It is another object of this invention to provide a carpet sweeper ofthe character indicated in which the afore- 2,883,695 Patented Apr. 28, 1959 ice screws to the sweeper casing 2. Said wheel housings 4 are provided with slots as shown, to accommodate a 7 with a boss 7 in which a fan or impeller is journalled and said drive mechanism for the fan includes a yieldable energy storing means to cushion and facilitate the starting of the fan rotation.

Otherobjects and advantages of the present inventionwill become apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particlarly pointed out in the claim, the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail a certain illustrative embodiment of the invention, this being indicative, however, of but one of the various ways in which the principle of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view ofa preferred embodiment of the present invention; a

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view ofthe-Fig. l sweeper, the outer wheel housing havingbeen removed so as to clearly illustrate the brush and fan drive structure;

Fig. 3 is a front view partly in section as indicated by the line 3-3, Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a cross-section view diametrically through the fan and fan casing, such cross-section view having been taken substantially along the line 44, Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the spider in which the fan is journalled;

Fig. 6 is a cross-section view of the gear housing which is mounted on one end wall of the sweeper casing, such section having been taken substantially along the line 6-6, Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a cross-section of the gear housing taken substantially along the line 7--7, Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a cross-section view showing the fan and associated one-way or overrunning clutch therein, such section having been taken substantially along the line 88, Fig. 4.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings and first to Fig. l, the sweeper 1 herein comprises a casing 2 equipped with a pair of wheels 3; 3 at each end covered by housings 4 which are secured as by means of operative to exhaust dust-laden air from within the sweeper casing 2 into the dust bag 8 connected to the fan casing outlet port 9. Said bag 8 may comprise flexible imperforate plastic material in which event it is provided with a screen 10 to create a back pressure sufficient to inflate said bag. The upper end of said bag 8 is connected incustomary manner to the handle 6 of the sweeper, and the mouth of said bag 8 is preferably designed to snap over the rectangular outlet port 9 of the fan casing. The dust-laden air which is impelled into said bag 8 by the fan is thereby inflated with the dust settling out in the bag in well known manner.

Referring now to the remaining figures of the drawings and first particularly to Figs. 2 and 3, the sweeper casing 2 carries pivotally mounted dust pans 11 that form between the inner termini therof, a slot or opening which extends transversely across the bottom of the casing between the parallel end walls 12, the latter being secured in place also by the screws 5.

Rotatably mounted in said end walls 12 are the end portions of a rotary brush 14, herein exemplarily illustrated as comprising a shaft or core 15 carrying radial bristle tufts 16 arranged helically around said core. As evident, when the brush 14 is rotated, dirt will be swept thereby into the casing 2, wherefrom it is exhausted by the fan as hereinafter explained in detail.

Also journaled in said end plates 12 are the respective pairs of wheels 3; 3 and as is well known in the art, said wheels are preferably spring loaded so that when downward pressure is exerted on. the sweeper casing 2, the

brush 14 will be correspondingly moved down so as to engage the carpet or other surface which is to be swept.

The ends of the brush core 15 are provided with drive rolls 17 which are adapted to be frictionally engaged between the respective pairs of drive wheels 3; 3 whereby the brush 14 will be rotated in opposite directions responsive to back and forth motion of the sweeper 1 along the to-be-swept surface.

Adjacent one of the drive rolls 17 of said brush 14 and between the wheel housing 4 and the corresponding end plate 12, thebrush core 15 is provided with a pulley 18 over which is trained an elastic belt 19 or the like, said belt being trained over a pulley 20 which is keyed onto the shaft'21 of the drive gear 22 of a gear drive mechanism 23,the latter being shown' in detail in Figs. 6 and 7. The gear housing 24 is secured to the end plate 12 as by means of screws 25 and has journalled therein a driven gear 26 in mesh with gear 22.

A flexible cable 27 has pinned or otherwise secured thereon end fittings 28 and 29 one of which is nonrotatably fitted in the slotted end of the shaft of gear 26 and the other of which drives a bevel gear 30 the shaft of said bevel gear being journalled in the bearing 31 secured as by set screw 32 in the boss of the impeller support spider 34. Encasing the flexible drive shaft 27 is a length of tubing 35 which is bent to curved form as shown. One end of said tube 35 is flared for attachment to a fitting body 36 by means of the nut 37 threaded on said body. The other end of said tube is slipped or pressed over the projecting tubular portion of the bearing member 31 aforesaid.

Iournalled in said spider 34, is a bevel gear 38. meshing with the bevel gear 30. The fan 39 is journalled in the spider 34 as by means of the anti-friction bearing 40, and there is interposed between the shaft of bevel gear 38 and fan 39 to a sleeve bearing 41. Torque is transmitted aeaaeee flombevel gear 38 to .fan 39 through a familiar form of one-way or overrunning clutch 42 only through the cylindrical rollers or pins 43 interposed between the clutch element 45 and the surrounding element 46, the latter being secured in the hub of fan 39. As best shown in Fig. 8, when the clutch element 45 rotates in a clockwise direction, the cylindrical rollers 43 are wedged in between the clutch elements 45 and 46 whereby the fan 39 will be driven in a clockwise direction. However, when the clutch element 45 stops, or is rotated in a counter clockwise direction, the rollers 43 are freed from wedged position so that the fan may continue to coast in the clockwise direction.

It has been found that the use of the flexible cable 27 greatly facilitates the smooth action of the present sweeper in that when the sweeper is first moved forward on the carpet, the flexible cable 27 twists to act as a cushioning means to provide for smooth starting of the fan rotation.

In the use of the carpet sweeper herein disclosed, when the handle 6 is pressed down and the sweeper casing 2 moved forwardly along the carpet, the rotary brush 14 will be driven in counter clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2 and such rotation will, through the gear mechanism 23 and flexible shaft 27 drive the clutch element 45 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 8, whereby the fan 39 will be rotated in that direction to cause a flow of air through the fan casing inlet opening 47 and out through the outlet 9 into the dust bag 8. Of course, when the movement of the sweeper 1 is reversed, the brush 14 will rotate in the other direction, but the reversed rotation of the flexible drive shaft 27 and clutch element 45, will not effect any reversal of the rotation of the fan 39, the fan 39 continuing to coast in the clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 8, whereby a continuous circulation of air is effected during both the forward and backward strokes of the sweeper casing 2. The screened opening 10 in the bag 8 causes a build-up of pressure therewithin to swell the bag, and of course, the dirt particles entrained in the air stream will drop out upon entering the chamber within the expanded bag 8. Said bag 8 herein is shown as being of pleated or folded form.

It is to be noted that the hub 48 of the spider 34 is recessed within the vanes of fan 39 so as to render the fan 39 and housing 7 compact when superjacent to the brush 14 as best shown in Fig. 2. Thus, the sweeper 1 herein is of minimum vertical height from the wheels 3 to the top of the fan housing 7. Likewise, the brush casing 2 may be rather low and close to the brush 14 by reason of the oblique and generally tangential disposition of the tube 35 where connected to spider 34. Moreover, the tube 35 and cable 27 are curved on a large radius so as to function properly and so as to eliminate the need 4? of bevel gears or the like as would be required were it attempted to run the cable 27 or a drive shaft above, and parallel to, the axis of the brush 14. In addition, a drive shaft disposed above the brush would necessitate a corresponding raising of the fan 39 and fan casing 7.

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in the following claim, or the equivalent of such, be employed.

I, therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

A compact carpet sweeper characterized by a low overall height comprising a hollow casing defining a dust chamber for the passage therethrough of dust-laden air and formed with an opening across the bottom thereof, a rotary brush journalled in said casing for rotation about a generally horizontal axis and extending through said opening to engage a surface to be swept, a fan casing superimposed on the hollow casing, a hub member supported in said fan casing, a fan having vanes mounted for rotation in said fan casing about a generally vertical axis to expel dust-laden air from the hollow casing, said vanes having cut-away portions to receive said hub member within the general outlines of the vanes and permit compact mounting of the fan superadja-cent to the brush, traction wheels on said hollow casing for supporting the latter for movement on the surface to be swept, said wheels having driving engagement with said brush, and drive means for the fan responsive to rotation of said wheels including a flexible drive shaft disposed entirely within the .dust chamber and extending at one end thereof generally parallel to the axis of said brush and to one side of said brush clear of its periphery, to contribute to the compactness of the sweeper and then extending at the other end thereof obliquely upwardly within the vertical projected height thereof and also clear of the periphery of said brush to the hub member, said flexible drive shaft extending through said hub member at an angle of approximately to said vertical axis, and gear means rotatably supported within the hub member adjacent the cut-away portions of the vanes operatively connected to the flexible drive shaft and to the fan for transmitting the drive of the shaft to the fan.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,231,077 Sheifler June 26, 1917 1,557,212 Lee Oct. 13, 1925 1,561,928 Jaquith Nov. 17, 1925 1,750,944 Sherbondy Mar. 18, 1930 1,828,584 Anderson Oct. 20, 1931 2,308,682 Fuge Jan. 9, 1943 2,598,611 Sherbondy May 27, 1952 

